Perfection
by daysandweeks
Summary: Teddy and Victoire are in love, but then a misunderstanding causes them to not see one another for two and a half years. When they finally encounter one another again, will they discover the truth and have another chance at perfection? ONE SHOT


_Perfection_

.

It had been two years and seven months, but still when Teddy Lupin smelled a woman wearing the same scent as she did, Victoire Weasley jumped to his mind. At first, the scent, one of fruit and flowers, ripe and blooming, had overcome him and every single time he passed by a woman with a similar scent in a store or on the street, Teddy immediately thought she was Victoire. But now it had been two years and seven months, and with time his wounds had been partially healed. Though that scent, carried in the air as a woman briskly passed by him, still reminded him of Victoire, only her image jumped to his mind: one of a tall blonde girl with long, silky hair and even longer and silkier legs. He didn't feel the urge to turn around and search for her.

And so it should have been with no surprise that when a tall blonde girl walked by Teddy one warm summer day that she stopped in her tracks, turned around, and said, "Teddy? Ted Lupin?"

Teddy whirled around, but it did not feel like he was turning around quickly at all. In one second a million thoughts jumped to his head, all blurred pictures and words. Her hair, the feeling of her lips against his, how it felt to touch her, to hold her, to laugh with her, to fight with her, to be inside her. And then he saw her, and with an aching pain he realized that it _was_ her. It _was_ Victoire.

"Victoire Weasley?"

The formality was absurd. They'd known one another since Victoire's birth two years after Teddy's. Some of his earliest memories involved her and vice versa, and yet here they were on a crowded, sunny street in wizarding London acting as if it was so surprising that they'd run into one another again. What really _was_ surprising was that they'd avoided one another for over two and a half years.

"Oh. God," Victoire said almost breathlessly. She stared at him for a moment and for a second he thought he'd lose her as people bustled passed, but then she was striding towards him, her heals clicking, with all the confidence in the world. "Hell, Teddy. Where have you _been_?"

Teddy shrugged, unsure how to answer her question. "Here," he said, expanding his arms outward.

"I don't mean _that_," she replied, shaking her head. "I mean…I haven't seen you! You're never at family get togethers—."

"You forget the Potters and the Weasleys aren't technically my family, Victoire."

Victoire shook her head, her platinum-strawberry-blonde hair moving with it. "Oh, I do remember. It was quite a point between us."

Teddy nodded. There were so many things he wanted to ask her now that she was standing here before him. And even more: He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to take her back to his home with him. He never, _ever_ wanted to let her go again.

"Do you…do you want to grab some lunch?"

Victoire crossed her arms and looked up at him, a questioning look on her face. But then, after a few seconds, she nodded. "Alright," she said. "Alright. That sounds good."

--

They sat in a small bistro, placed their orders, and handed their menus aside, not speaking the entire time. The hostess smiled, the waiter told them his name and the soup of the day, but still no words were exchanged between Teddy and Victoire until they were left alone.

"How did you recognize me?" Teddy asked. It was true that he looked very different from two and a half years ago. At that point in his life he'd sported turquoise hair, a thin yet muscular frame, and dark brown eyes. He'd morphed himself to be tan and almost stereotypically athletic looking with a bit of a rebellious side. Victoire had seen him in this form as well as his natural one, but now he looked like neither. He was neither pale nor tan, sported black hair of a neither conservative nor long length, had gray eyes and a broad frame. It was only now that he wondered how Victoire had known it was him. He'd been too wrapped up in her presence to think straight.

Victoire shrugged. "I always know," she said. "Growing up, didn't I always know when you were trying to play pranks on me? I always knew it was you."

Teddy nodded gravely, though really he just wanted to reach across the table and hold her hands which were clenched together nervously.

"Also," Victoire added, "you _are_ in all the papers."

Teddy smirked. "God, I always forget about that."

Victoire shrugged once more. "I don't."

It was true. It was completely impossible for Victoire to not notice that Teddy was in all of the newspapers, especially the one she worked for, the _Daily Prophet_. In fact, Victoire was the entertainment columnist and had a special feature every week as well as a daily column featuring celebrity gossip and interviews. Once Teddy had learned that she worked for the _Prophet_, he'd begun reading her columns almost religious, and it now dawned on him that she'd never once written about him. All items and interviews concerning him and been conducted by another staff member.

In truth, Teddy had become a celebrity only a year and a half ago, upon opening up his fifth record store in less than one year. It had been his dream growing up to create a venue for musically-involved wizards and witches to express themselves, and while he was still with Victoire he'd begun planning for opening up his first shop. It was a hit and he soon had enough money to start a whole chain of the stores spread across wizarding England. He'd become a millionaire in that short time slot and made popular music in wizarding Europe much more diverse in the process. He'd also become known as a bit of a playboy, which he was sure disappointed Victoire.

"Those articles, you know," he said, his voice slightly shaky, "aren't true. Well, the ones you write are, but the ones about me…well, sometimes they're true. But not usually."

The waiter came by with their drinks and Teddy cleared his throat as he walked away.

"Whatever do you mean?" Victoire asked before taking a sip out of her glass.

Teddy cleared his throat once more, ignoring the tall glass of water before him. Did it sound vain that he read articles about himself? "Well, I knew you wrote in the entertainment section, so I always read it and…and sometimes I read the articles about me as well. That Jordan fellow…I don't know where he gets his information from, Victoire, but half of the girls I'm seeing, well, I'm _not_ seeing."

It was Victoire's turn to smirk now. "So you're seeing the other half, then?"

Teddy rolled his eyes. "I think you know what I mean."

Victoire put her glass down. "No, Teddy," she spat, "I don't. I _don't_ know what you mean. Isn't that why we're sitting here? Isn't that why we haven't spoken—we haven't _seen_ one another—for almost three years?!"

He was surprised by her sudden outburst of passion. She was standing up now, leaning over the table, her hands balled into fists. She glared at him and he couldn't help but notice her sundress had ridden up as she sat down, exposing more of her legs than it was meant to. He returned his gaze to her face and realized how much he'd missed it—those blue eyes, that light dusting of freckles…

"Don't you _know_?" she growled. "Don't you know I don't know?"

Teddy looked up at her. The waiter stood across the restaurant, eyeing them sheepishly. Though the restaurant was empty aside from themselves and the staff, Teddy could have cared less who saw them. He stood up now, too, and reached into his pocket to extract a galleon which he placed on the table. "Let's take a walk," he said.

"I'm not going _anywhere_ with you," Victoire snarled.

"Fine," Teddy said. "I can see you're hurt, but if we don't take this walk, if we leave each other now, then we'll never know. We'll never know why the other is so upset—"

"You bloody well know why I'm upset!"

"—and we'll never know what went wrong that night. We won't know unless we talk."

--

They walked six blocks up a side street before a word was said. Victoire let out little angry breaths as they walked, glaring at her peep-toe high-heels the entire time while Teddy looked up at the sky. The feeling of her next to him, though they weren't touching, was excruciatingly wonderful. Electricity bounced between them and Teddy didn't care that it was of a negative kind. She was with him. After two and a half long years…

"Are you ready?" Teddy asked.

"No," Victoire said, shaking her head. "No, but if you are, I'll listen."

They stopped at a bench and sat down, staring out at the empty road before them. Teddy took a deep breath and told her what he remembered.

--

It was two nights before Victoire had to go back to Hogwarts, where she was in her seventh year and Head Girl. Teddy sat in his apartment, hands shaking. He'd been seeing Victoire for six months now, since she'd arrived home from summer break and they'd begun seeing each other in a whole new light. He'd graduated from Hogwarts the year before and the two had apparently changed quite a lot in the span of a year. They'd started by flirting less innocently than usual, and then there'd been a rather accidental kiss…

And here they were six months later. Teddy wasn't a virgin, but Victoire was. He'd slept with three others girls: his first girlfriend at Hogwarts in their fifth and sixth year, a second, brief relationship in his seventh, and then a hook-up in the year after he'd left it. Victoire had had other boyfriends, but none were serious. Before Teddy, she'd only really, _truly_ kissed one boy.

And now they'd been dating for six months and he was more nervous for this night than he'd ever been about anything before.

Teddy stood up from his spot in the kitchen and headed towards the bathroom, where his roommate, Evan stood, gazing at himself in the mirror. "Tonight's the night, mate," he said. "Andy and I…I'm making it official."

It hadn't occurred to Evan, as it had to everyone else, that Andy was not remotely interested in Evan. She was a petite girl with auburn hair and a sly smile that Evan had been taking out for a few weeks now. She often hung around the flat, laughing and flirting more with Teddy than with Evan.

"Good luck, mate," Teddy said in spite of this and gave his friend a pat on the back. "Now please, vacate the premises. Vic will be here any minute."

Evan rolled his eyes and turned to his friend. "Andy's meeting me here. And anyway, Victoire loves me."

Teddy let out a groan. "Why does Andy always come _here_? That's probably why she won't _really_ go out with you. You need to show some initiative."

"She wasn't ready for a relationship before."

The truth was, Andy would never be ready for Evan. Most girls weren't. He was too loud, too pretentious, and too insecure. He was sort of short and sort of fat and the sort ofs went on. He was only sort of funny, only sort of smart, only sort of adventurous. He was a good flatmate, but that was about it.

"Hello?"

It was Andy's voice and she soon came up behind Teddy in the hallway. "Well, hello Teddy," she said with what Teddy supposed was an attempt at an alluring smile. "How are you this evening?"

"Great," Teddy said, and he truly meant it. "Victoire's coming over soon."

"Oh!" Andy exclaimed. "I can't _wait_ to see her again!"

Evan squeezed passed Teddy into the hallway. "Yeah, well," he said, "that's not gonna happen. Teddy and Victoire need some _alone_ time tonight." He smirked at his friend and put an arm around Andy. "Come on. Where would you like to go tonight?"

Andy turned around and smiled at Teddy, but in the next second she was gone with a pop, and Evan had disappeared as well.

Within seconds there was another pop and Teddy rushed into the living room to see Victoire, unsteady on her feet. "I'm still no good at this," she said. Reaching up to her hair, she frowned. "My head's sore. I think I lost a few strands of hair."

Teddy smiled. He loved her. He loved how easy-going she was. He walked up to her and said, "You look just as beautiful as ever, darling."

Victoire rolled her eyes and looked up at him. "You sound so old when you use endearments. My parents do that."

"You love it," Teddy said, plopping down on the sofa. She followed suit and snuggled up against him and he wrapped an arm around her. "You love the thought of me at forty of fifty calling you darling."

"And I'll call you honey."

Teddy shook his head. "But that's not ever going to happen, you see, as we're never going to get old."

"What?" Victoire asked, a smirk on her face. "Are we going to die young then? That's awfully morbid, Teddy."

Teddy laughed. "Oh, no. My plan is that we'll become immortal before then."

Victoire leaned away from him to look at him better. "You can, but I'm not."

"That's not an option," Teddy said, shaking his head. "I'm not going to be immortal if you aren't."

It was then that Victoire leaned up and unexpectedly kissed him. She did that a lot. She enjoyed taking him by surprise. Her lips were soft against his own and he kissed her back immediately. Within seconds he grazed his tongue against her lips and pulled her up onto his lap before trailing kisses along her collarbone.

"Teddy?" she questioned.

"Yes?" he asked, not stopping his work as he began kissing her in silly places—her nose, her forehead.

"It's just…"

"Are you nervous?" he asked, pulling away from her and looking her in the eyes. "Do you not…?"

"No, no, I do," Victoire assured him. "It's just…I want this to be perfect. Absolutely perfect."

Teddy let out a sharp but not unkind laugh. "Well, see, therein lies the problem. The first time…it's never, _never_ perfect."

Victoire frowned. She didn't like being reminded of Teddy's experiences before her, but then again she'd admitted to being relieved that he knew what he was doing. "But…it's _us_."

Teddy nodded and smiled. "Well, that's true. With you, it's always perfect."

She took his face in her hands now and kissed him quite passionately, immediately sliding her tongue into his mouth. She was a wonderful kisser for having such little experience and it was either this or the fact that he was so in love with her that caused him to be hard just by the look in her eyes before she laid her lips on him. He slid his hands from her waist up her shirt to her breast, and they continued like this for some time until he couldn't control himself any longer and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around him and he carried her to his bedroom, a small affair with a twin bed in the middle by windows covered with blinds.

He laid her down and then stared at her before a thought came to his mind.

"I'll be right back," Teddy said, and stood up and rushed to the bathroom.

"Teddy?" Victoire asked. "Teddy!" She stood up and turned to follow him but he ignored her, rushing into the bathroom where he stared at himself in the mirror.

She stood behind him, watching him with a confused expression on her face as she leaned against the bathroom door, her shirt disheveled.

It took a moment, but soon Teddy's hair turned from blue to brown, a messy mass on his head. His skin became paler and a bit less toned. A few freckles appeared and his eyes faded from a deep brown to a dull hazel mixture.

It was then that he turned around and looked at Victoire and saw an expression on her face that he'd never forget, a look that would haunt him still two years and seven months later.

"You're beautiful," she murmured. "You're beautiful just the way you are. God, you're beautiful." And she leaned on her tiptoes and kissed him. He returned the kiss hungrily and had to resist the urge to take her on the bathroom floor. He picked her up once more and carried her back to his bed where his lips didn't leave hers for a second until she reached down and yanked off his shirt before peeling off her own in addition to her bra and gazing up at him with yet another haunting look etched on her face.

It was now Teddy's turn to admire Victoire. She was thin with small yet plump breasts. He'd seen them before on two other occasions but still the site of her almost completely naked entranced him. It took him a few moments before he said, "Beautiful. That's what you are," and then began trailing kisses down her exposed body and kneading at her breasts, pinching lightly at her nipples and leaving his mark in a rather obvious place against her collarbone.

Victoire let out a soft little moan and then looked up at Teddy. "Please," she said, "now." And so he pulled off his pants as well as her own, attempting to do so slowly but not managing to do so half as romantically as he wished to. The sight of her completely naked made him gasp and if he hadn't already been hard he would have been quite swiftly. And though he wanted to make this last, though he wanted to explore her in all ways possible and for her to return the favor, he knew what he had to do. He knew what she wanted.

His wand was still in his pants and he reached for it before casting the charm. Then, he kissed her one more time before leaning over her. "If I hurt you…"

"I'll let you know," she said before kissing him hungrily, and he entered her. Her walls clenched around him and he heard her cry out in pain, but then she let out a moan of a different kind and he began slowly pumping in and out of her. She writhed beneath him, somehow managing to look lovelier than he imagined anyone ever had during this act, and though he knew he'd come very quickly, he was surprised when she came with him, crying out his name.

He rolled off of her and let out a deep breath. She sighed beside him and snuggled up against him as she had done just minutes ago on the couch. "Did you…like it?" he asked.

"Yes," she murmured breathlessly. "But I'm a bit sore. Just a bit."

"I love you," he murmured, and though he'd said it many times before now she looked up at him, an expression of pure joy on her face.

"I love you too."

He kissed the top of her head and they lay there like that for some time until they fell asleep together. Teddy had plans to make love to her when they woke in the morning, whether or not Evan had succeeded in his efforts. They'd be quiet. Though of course it had been lovely when she'd yelled his name…

But when Teddy woke in the morning, there was no love making to be had. Victoire was gone.

--

"Why did you leave?" Teddy asked, staring at the road still. He was surprised that when he turned his head, Victoire was staring straight at him, gaping.

"The next morning…I woke up and…"

And she explained why she'd left.

--

Victoire woke up to see Teddy beside her, still asleep. She contemplated waking him up with a kiss but remembered how grumpy he was in the morning and didn't want to disturb him anyway. He looked so peaceful, snoring softly, a small smile on his face.

Victoire let out a soft sigh and climbed out of bed, headed towards the kitchen for a glass of water. She was very thirsty and not sore anymore. She hadn't heard Evan return, and so she simply pulled her T-shirt on without the bra and her knickers from the night before.

In the kitchen, Victoire drank her fill and put down the glass. She stared out the window and was about to wash the glass out when she heard a voice. "Good morning," it said, and Victoire whirled around to see Andy, Evan's love-interest.

"Oh, hello Andy," Victoire said, blushing at being caught in such skimpy attire. "What are you doing here?"

Andy shrugged. "Just visiting. Evan came back late last night and I'm making sure he's not too hung-over. We uhh, we had a talk, you see. He was upset." She smiled, but the smile was brittle, before leaning against the counter. "Vicky, I'm glad you're here. I have something important to tell you."

"What is it, Andy?" Victoire asked, thinking perhaps Andy and Evan had finally gone official.

"Well, you see, Evan thought he and I were dating, I guess, but the whole time I thought we were just friends. I thought he knew…"

"Knew what?" Victoire asked, curious and feeling for Evan.

"I thought he knew I was…oh God, Victoire. I barely know you. I feel so bad. But he was so nice…and then how it feels with him…"

Suddenly, Victoire felt very sick. "What happened, Andy?"

"I've been sleeping with Teddy. Since September."

Victoire's eyes widened. "Oh God…"

She ran into the bedroom and thought she was going to pummel Teddy but couldn't bring herself to. How could he? All this time he'd claimed to be in love with her when really the moment she'd gone away to school he'd turned around and fucked some other girl! Victoire pulled her pants back on and grabbed her bra before exiting the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Victoire, don't get upset!" Andy called, running after her. "I feel horrible."

"Leave me the fuck alone," Victoire spat, and then she disappeared.

--

"That fucking bitch!" Teddy explained, and he stood up and stared down at Victoire. "You…you believed her?!"

"What else was I supposed to think?!" Victoire gasped. "You didn't even write to me! You didn't explain yourself!" She stood up too and glared at Teddy, who, despite her height, was still quite taller than her.

"Why would I? That little slut…the minute you left I got up and she was all over me, telling me you said you…well, I still have the note."

"The note?" Victoire asked, confused. "What note?"

Teddy frowned. "It's at my home. We'd have to…I could summon it but it's a bit far…"

And he grabbed her hand without another word and they disappeared.

--

Victoire couldn't believe Teddy's house. It was a mansion, which she'd known. She'd known the precise address of his home and what the outside looked like for a year now. She'd even walked past it quite a few times and wondered what went on inside there.

But inside, the house was insanely beautiful. From the foyer she walked up the marble staircase with Teddy at her side, cognizant of the feeling of being together again, even if she still didn't know what was going on. And then she reached the second floor, where they passed grand room over grand room. Finally, they reached Teddy's study which centered on a grand oak desk. It was there that he led her before opening up a drawer, rummaging around, and pulling out a letter.

"Here it is," he murmured. "In your handwriting. Read it."

Immediately, Victoire knew where this was going. When she'd first met Andy, they'd shared a funny moment upon realizing that their handwriting was almost exactly the same. She let out what sounded like a sob but was really an ironic laugh before reading.

_Teddy—_

_I regret last night. I regret it so much. I don't really love you. I'm in love with another boy at school. I'm crazy about him. The thing is, I used you, Teddy. The boy I really love won't sleep with me. He thinks I'm too pure for that. But you don't. Last night I didn't want to let you down, and also I wanted some experience for my real boyfriend. When I go back to school, he won't be so shy because he'll know I know what I'm doing. You knew what you were doing last night and I resent you for that. How many other girls have you fucked? I've heard some horrible things about you at school. Did you really think I cared about you? You're an idiot._

The paper was torn and the next sentence was therefore unreadable.

"There's a second half," Teddy said, and he handed her the next bit, which contained the rest of the ripped off sentence.

_Don't try to write to me because if you do I'll tell everyone how it really happened. I'll tell them it was rape. I know you think you can use this as evidence that I'm blackmailing you but you'd better not. Because they'll believe me. The courts always believe the girl and I WILL press charges and you do not want our family to get into that. I'll tell them you're a rapist._

Suddenly, Victoire was crying. She sobbed over the letter and then ripped it as Teddy must have once done, this time tearing it into shreds. He enveloped her in his arms and she cried against his suit, not caring that she would look like a mess with a snotty nose and her make-up running. She cried for what felt like hours until the muscles around her eyes became sore and then she looked up at him and said, "I don't dot my i's with bubbles. That's the only difference."

Teddy laughed a bit and then she was laughing. "Whatever…what happened next?" Victoire asked.

Teddy shrugged. "The bitch made a move on me. I didn't know any better but I _did_ know I didn't want to be involved with anyone else having to do with the situation. I moved out of the flat and got my own. I saw her a few times again but only in passing. Last I heard she dated Evan for a bit but then left him for some poor rich bastard."

Victoire let out a mixture of a sob and a laugh and Teddy's paradoxical wording, but then her tears of anger became tears of pure rage and she said, "I want to kill that fucking bitch. Playing with our lives like that."

Teddy let out a shudder of a sigh. "I know…God, I know. If we could have those two years and seven months back…"

Victoire shook her head. "No, it's been two years, seven months, two weeks, and four days."

Teddy laughed now and looked down at her. "You would know that."

Victoire smiled behind her tears. "How come you've been so good to me today? When you thought I…when you thought I…"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Teddy asked. "I'm head-over-heels in love with you no matter what. You were seventeen then and for all I knew now you'd changed. You were confused then, or so the letter implied…"

"Let's burn it," Victoire pleaded, pulling away from him and jumping to the floor where she picked up scraps of the letter. There was a fireplace in the room and she headed over to it. "Let's…let's fucking burn it."

Teddy pulled out his wand and started the fire. Victoire threw the shreds of parchment in it and they watched the paper burn.

"Two years, seven months, two weeks, and four days," Victoire said. "And I haven't…no one's been like you."

"No one will _ever_ be like you."

They were silent and Teddy looked down at Victoire, his hands in his pockets. She gazed up at him, an imploring look on her face. "Then why not forget about 'no one'? Because we both know…we both know we're never going to have this again."

Teddy gazed down at her and wondered over the day's events. Had they really chanced to pass one another? Was she really here, gazing up at him with her big blue eyes? Could he really smell her scent—apples and sweet peas and everything good and wonderful?

"Why not forget the past two years and seven months and…uh, whatever weeks and days?" he said. Victoire let out a laugh. "Because…God, I don't ever want to remember or experience a time without you."

And she kissed him, surprising him as always, wrapping her arms around his waist.

And it felt just as perfect as it always did. Because with each other, whether they were making love in a narrow bed or in a mansion, it would always, _always_ be perfect.


End file.
